Jodie Comer's role in led to her winning multiple awards, including an Olivier and a Tony, but she never even expected to be approached for it. Speaking at a Q&A last night (September 8) to promote the , Comer reflected on her first impressions when she read Suzie Miller's award-winning play. "I couldn't believe it came to me in the first place, truth be told, and then I fell in love with Susie's work and it just felt like I can't say no to this.
It was terrifying but thrilling at the same time," she explained. "I thought, 'Wow what a journey it's going to be, to be able to get to that point of doing this eight shows a week.' You're speaking about this issue and you're in a rehearsal room and we're speaking about statistics every day, and then you get in front of a live audience and there's 800 people there and then you hear their response and how they feel.
"I think I speak for all the crew, that was the most overwhelming and powerful and life-affirming experience." Prima Facie sees Comer play brilliant young barrister Tessa who is forced to confront the lines where the power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge after an unexpected event with a colleague. The play was recorded live during its sold-out run at London's Harold Pinter Theatre in 2022, and became the when it played cinemas later that same year.
Prima Facie is now coming back to cinemas worldwide from September 12, but Comer still hasn't watched the play on the big screen. "I've had many moments where I've flirted with the idea of watching it. The first time I text [producer] James Bierman and I think we'd just finished the London run and we hadn't done Broadway and I said, "I think I'm going to watch it'," she recalled.
"Then I thought about it and decided not to. After Broadway, I watched a little bit of it at home, curiosity kind of killed the cat, and I wanted to see it. It was really beautiful, actually.
"I think because by that point, we'd done the run in New York and this version of Tessa, I had so much admiration for and that version of myself in the midst of that unknown and that fear and that adrenaline of it being the first time that we kind of did Prima Facie." Prima Facie's re-release in cinemas will continue to see the play partner with charities and ..
